Description

At the end of Saints Row the city of Stillwater was in the hands of the 3rd Street Saints. But the main protagonist also got blown up on Mayor Alderman's yacht, putting him in a coma. So things went down from there.

Two years have passed now and the main protagonist finally wakes up from his sleep only to find himself in prison and the city of Stillwater controlled by several rival gangs with Johnny Gat about to be put on the electric chair. With the help of Carlos, a fellow inmate, the protagonist escapes, rescues Johnny Gat and once again begins to reform the gang and move the 3rd Street Saints back up to number 1.

Before the player can enter the open and non-linear environment of the city, he needs to define who the main protagonist is by using an extensive character creator which allows for changing everything from gender to the size of the characters ears and the voice acting. But that's not the limit of customization in Saints Row 2. In shops scattered all around the city the player can buy additional clothing from underwear to hats to not only change his appearance but also the gang's. These clothes are then also available in the up to six cribs the player can unlock and buy during the course of the game. Besides changing his appearance, the player can also stash weapons and cash there, withdraw the daily earnings, rewatch cutscenes and more. He can also change the overall style of the crib and buy new stuff like a TV-set which grants him additional style points.

Style and Respect are the most important currencies besides money in the city. While respect is used to unlock missions and progress through the storyline, the player's style affects the overall respect modifier increasing the amount of respect earned. As stated style points are earned by upgrading the characters look, home or car. Respect points are instead earned through the many activities and diversions available in the city.

Activities are mini-games that are started at a one of two specific points in the game world and span out over six difficulty levels. After completing three levels, the player gains unlockables like a 5% discount on clothes. Besides activities already known from Saints Row, Saints Row 2 includes six new ones including "Crowd Control" in which the player needs to protect a VIP from intrusive fans and "FUZZ", a parody of COPS in which the player is followed by a camera crew and has to deal with criminals in a very creative manner to gain points. Diversions on the other hand include the simple driving on the wrong side of the road, doing stunts, playing poker in a casino, hijacking a car with more than one person in it and taking the passengers hostage and doing the job side-missions like driving the tow-truck or playing taxi.

The game also features several multiplayer modes ranging from a two-person coop-mode to twelve player deathmatch ("Gangsta Brawl") and team-deathmatch ("Team Gangsta Brawl") and a mode called "Strong Arm" in which the team wins that manages to earn $100.000 first. This is accomplished by winning events based on single player activities like racing. Each activity has a time limit and at the end the winner goes home with $10.000.

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

German version

There are a number of changes in the German version. The Windows version requires a Steam verification and is region locked, i.e. an uncut version can't be activated when the player has a German IP address.

All blood effects (except when shooting meat and in cutscenes) were removed.

Ragdoll effects on people (except after explosions and when they are hit by a car) and corpses were removed.

Killed enemies disappear almost instantly. This means the possibility to revive killed people with the defibrillator is also gone.

There are no flames on burning people; only black smoke. They also don't scream.

People only leave money behind if completely killed.

The option to take a human shield was removed both for the player and for the AI. This affects some missions.

During the fight club sequences, the finishing move quicktime events when an enemy reaches the bottom of his health were removed. Players have to finish off all enemies the hard way.

Likewise the finishing moves with the katana were removed.

The respect growth for performing combat moves like headshots was removed.

Some activities were removed: the amok drive with a burning vehicle, Fuzz (wreak chaos for a TV reality show), vandalism (earning money by destroying property) and being the bodyguard of a celebrity. Because of this, some of the unlockables are not reachable for German players.

The mini games Zombie Uprising (arcade) and drive-by were removed. During the pimping mini game, the screams of lust were removed.

During the first main mission, the player has to kill a prison doctor to progress. This was removed in the German version.

The cheats for getting the flame thrower, chainsaw and explosive charge were removed.

The "Zombie Carlos" companion was removed.

The texts in the German version differ from the German texts in the regular version, e.g. the game avoids the words "töten" ("kill") or "Nutte" ("hooker").

Various "number of killed x" statistics were removed.

Xbox 360 version: a few achievements, mostly related to missing game content, were removed and the gamerscore divided between other achievements.